What if
by Pforte
Summary: Several Valentines Days that could have happened and fortunately never came to pass. RemusSirius. Persiflage with a sweet ending.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. The Harry Potter universe was created by JK Rowling and consequently belongs to her and her various publishers. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

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**What if...**

_--What if Remus was allergic to chocolate?--  
_

"I swear, I didn't know!" insisted a very contrite Sirius.

"You've been sharing a dormitory with Mr Lupin for six years and you never noticed that he is allergic to chocolate?" asked Madam Pomfrey disbelievingly, one eyebrow raised.

"No!" exclaimed Sirius, exasperated. A miserable choking sound coming from the bed made him flinch.

"Why _exactly_ did you blindfold Mr Lupin and feed him chocolate anyway?" she enquired, hurrying to Remus and pulling his head back. With one swift movement she infused a yellowish potion into his poor quivering mouth. Remus' otherwise pale face was of a rather green colour and he whimpered as the fluid was forced down his throat. Sirius felt like dying himself.

"I didn't know," he repeated. And how could he? _Nobody_ was allergic to chocolate. By blindfolding Remus with a silken scarf and feeding him sweets, fruits and chocolate he had intended to be romantic and impress his boyfriend, secretly hoping to finally get into his pants, not trying to poison him!

"Yes, yes, but why?" Madam Pomfrey gave him a stern and inquisitive look.

"It's Valentine's Day," said Sirius rather lamely.

Remus groaned and vomited into the bucket at his feet.

_--What if the Dementors had damaged Sirius' memories severely?--  
_

It was a beautiful morning and Remus stared at the card in his hands. He was a thirty-six-year old werewolf with an escaped convict of a boyfriend and both were currently sitting in Sirius' bed at number twelve Grimmauld Place. Also, Remus was very naked and very tired and in his hands he held a huge, pink Valentines card that told him in a squeaky voice how wonderful he was.

"So what do you think?" asked Sirius excitedly, something that was always worrying.

"Erm…I hardly know what to say, Sirius. It's a _Valentines _card."

"I know."

"It's pink."

"I know." Sirius looked ready to pounce.

"Why?" Remus asked, desperate.

"Why? But you always liked Valentines Day, luv," Sirius answered, brow furrowed in confusion. His gaunt face was drawn into an adorable pout. Remus sighed.

"I _never_ loved this day. It's sappy and commercial and at Hogwarts you were the one who hexed all these little brats who celebrated it!"

"I did?" Sirius looked confused. "But I have these memories of us sitting in Madam Puddi- oh dear! That's one of these implanted memories from Azkaban, right? I knew there had to be a reason I remember that so clearly. If I had loved it I wouldn't remember a thing, right luv?" Sirius asked in a small, repentant voice.

Considering Sirius' dejected air, Remus didn't have the heart to tell him that he had never called him _luv_ either. Or that he wasn't a woman and therefore didn't need pink slippers and a new silken nightie on top of that horrible card.

Instead, Remus smiled encouragingly and wondered what it would be like to lead a normal life.

_--What if Remus hadn't told Sirius about his feelings before the war?--_

Sirius whistled a happy tune as he wandered through number twelve Grimmauld Place. Not that he enjoyed his stroll. He hated the house of his childhood. But today was Valentines Day and he had received an anonymous card. Again. He had received anonymous cards since his days at Hogwarts. Every year, there was one card that was just different from all the others. It always had a Muggle poem by a bloke called Shakespeare in it and wasn't pink. Sirius Black appreciated that. Not the poem, he didn't really like poetry all that much, no, he really liked getting a card that wasn't pink and had little red hearts all over it.

Right now, he should be worried why this secret admirer had found him at his hiding place and had no difficulties placing the card on the breakfast table of the best hidden house in Britain. He wasn't though. It was just too nice to get another of these cards.

_Pity_, Sirius thought as he went up the stairs, _I never found out who sent them_.

Next thing, he knocked at the door of Remus' room. Sirius wanted to tell him about the card. It was too nice a surprise to keep it to himself. Remus, however, did not answer the door. Sirius did not have second thoughts about intruding his friend's privacy and let himself in.

The bed was meticulously made and there were files and reports all over the small table. Sirius heard water running and crossed the room. The bathroom door was ajar and although Remus was apparently taking a shower he must have known that Sirius was there because he heard his friend calling out his name. Sirius chuckled and made his way over to the bed, sitting down carelessly. One could always rely on good old Remus.

Looking here and there, his gaze flickered over to the antique wooden wardrobe and there his eyes found something he had not expected. A picture of his younger self, almost not visible through the little gap. Sirius got up, walked over to the wardrobe and pulled it open. There were hundreds and hundreds of pictures and doodles of him at fourteen, sixteen, twenty…him holding Harry, him in Quidditch robes, holding a broom, him dancing with Lily at the wedding…him, him, _him_.

Why on earth would Remus have a shrine of him in his closet? The door creaked and Sirius turned around.

"Ehm, Sirius?" asked a half-naked Remus in a slightly hysterical voice, pearls of water running down his horrified face.

"Moony," said Sirius, frowning, "is there a reason you decorate your wardrobe with pictures of, well, me?"

Remus blushed horrendously, which was rather cute, Sirius thought.

"You…you…why are you in here anyway?" Remus stuttered.

"I thought you knew I was here. I heard you saying my name in the shower."

"Er, yeah…about that." Remus' face was deep crimson by then. "Listen, Sirius. I never told you because you weren't like me and usually people freak out if a werewolf tells them…or their best and very male friend, really…erm, I'vefanciedyousincethirdyearandnowyou'regoingtohatemeandIwon'thaveasinglefriendintheworld," Remus said in one breath, looking like a deer in the headlights and not like a werewolf at all.

"Oh," said Sirius, perplexed. "I never knew. You should have said something."

"I sent you Valentine cards," mumbled Remus, fingers clutching the towel around his narrow hips, trying to cover more of himself.

Sirius stared at his friend and thought about this. Well, it made sense. After all, Remus liked poetry and had several editions of that Shakespeare bloke on his shelves.

"Does that mean you're gay?" he blurted.

Remus blinked. "Yes."

"I see." And Sirius did. Stepping closer, there was only one more thing he needed to know.

"But…why compare me to a summer's day, Moony?"

_--What if Remus made Sirius a cake?--_

It was a rather impressive strawberry cake, with huge sun-kissed fruits and hand-whipped cream; with a sticky and sinfully dark chocolate icing. It smelled painfully delicious, too.

"Moony, you shouldn't have," said James, drooling a little. He couldn't help it since his arms were busy keeping Peter away from the cake.

"I know," sighed Remus, pacing up and down in front of the cake.

"Well, we could always taste --" suggested Peter and was rudely interrupted by Remus.

"NO! Don't even think about it, Peter. Sirius would _kill_ you."

"You should go to the library, mate," said James and dragged the chubby boy further away from the cake. His eyes were a little glassy.

"Sorry, but I don't trust you," answered Remus warily. He needed to think about how to undo the damage of a self-invented spell gone awry. Quickly and without worrying that his friends ate the cake in the meantime.

"We're going to be the least of your problems if you don't – ouch, Wormtail, that hurt - find a way to transfigure him back."

Remus looked from James to Peter and back to the cake, which looked as sulky as a cake could possibly look. If a strawberry cake could be in a huff this one would.

James had a point. Remus cursed him under his breath…and stupid Valentines Day, too, for good measure.

_--What if Valentine's Day was never introduced to the Wizarding world?--_

Sighing happily, Remus drew a pattern on Sirius' sweaty chest, listening to his erratic heartbeat and snuggling a little closer.

"That was…I never knew you had muscles there," whispered Sirius hoarsely and there was something like awe in his voice. Remus raised his head, gazing fondly at the other boy. Sirius looked pretty much shagged out and very handsomely so.

"You weren't bad either, you know," he teased lazily and was rewarded with a mock spank on his arse. The day couldn't get any better.

The summer sun shone into their bedroom through the tree in front of its window, flickering playfully over the walls and the two of them. Despite the war, Remus was content.

"I love you," said Sirius, sudden and familiar at the same time.

"Love you, too," murmured Remus, who had tucked his head back under Sirius' chin. Out of the blue, he remembered something his mother had told him a couple of months before. "Did you know that Muggles have a special day to tell their loved ones that they're loved? It's called Valentines Day."

Sirius snorted derisively. "Sounds like bollocks. Why would I need an extra day to tell you? I love you every day, so I can tell you every day."

And Remus smiled.

_fin _

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